Superman (1978)

Comic-book hero splashed onto the silver screen.  Absorbing tale of distant planet sending a boy to Earth who will have super powers here.  Marlon Brando plays the boy's father who ensures the spacecraft will help preserve his planet's knowledge.  Once the boy decides to visit Metropolis the movie makes a sad dismount into the ordinary but before that SUPERMAN is transcendent.  Even the letters of the title of the film and actors I found kewl and transporting.  Christopher Reeve plays the hero who battles Lex Luthor who proves to be an ordinary villain just like Reeve's acting.  The plot the villain concocts is a stretch but nice effects for its day and enjoyable sequences when our caped superhero attempts to defeat the plot. [4 stars]